Day 2 – Tokyo city tour

After the exhausting day yesterday, we had to get up early and get to the Shinjuku Prince Hotel to start our Tokyo City Grand Tour at 8 am. We woke and got ready later than we wanted to and had a quick breakfast at McDonald’s – yuk… not a great introduction to Japanese cuisine. But served its purpose I suppose.

The tour took in highlights of the city, including the Tokyo Tower, Meiji Shrine, Imperial Palace Gardens, Hama-Rikyu Garden, Sumida River cruise and Asakusa Kannon Temple & Nakamise Shopping Street.

We got a good feel for the place.

The bus dropped us back at Shinjuku at about 8pm.

We grabbed a quick bite to eat at one of the thousands of little restaurants in Shinjuku. We had sushi and Asahi.

Again we we’re exhausted and had an early night.

 

Day 3 – Shinjuku, Harajuku and Shibuya

We woke up late and decided to take things easy today.

We’ll explore on our own and test out our navigation skills. We purchased a Suica card for the trains.

First stop Harajuku. I’d heard this area is famous for young people dressed in cosplay and outrageous fashion. Sadly, we didn’t really see much of that. We went down Takeshita street which was teeming with people. It was a great atmosphere and Jane enjoyed the shopping.

Next stop was Shibuya, which is famous for its street crossing. Rumoured to be the busiest pedestrian crossing in the world, with 45,000 people crossing every 30 minutes. We had a coffee in Starbucks and watched the people crossing the road. It seems silly to say that – but it was truly mesmerising.

Shibuya also has the monument dedicated to Hachikō.

We then took the train to Ginza. The tour guide said this was the main shopping area in Tokyo. We found out that it is, but only for the rich and famous. All very high end.

We went back to Shinjuku for dinner and bed.